Cranford

Cranford is a township in Union County, New Jersey, located 18 miles southwest of Manhattan. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township's population was 23,847.In both 2018 and 2019, The Star-Ledger named Cranford the best downtown in New Jersey after an online vote, calling it "adorable snowglobe-like". New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Cranford as its 34th best place to live in its 2010 rankings of the "Best Places To Live".NJ Transit rail service is available at the Cranford station, along the Raritan Valley train line, with service to Newark Penn Station and to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan via Midtown Direct. It is part of the New York City metropolitan area.

Cranford was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 14, 1871, from portions of the Townships of Clark, Linden, Springfield, Union and Westfield. Portions of the township were taken to form Garwood and Kenilworth.